People in the U.K. could soon face a shortage of tea because of supply chain disruptions caused by the ongoing crisis in the Red Sea, according to members of the U.K. supermarket industry.

According to Reuters, the British Retail Consortium — a trade association for retailers in the U.K. representing over 200 organizations — said February 13 that it had noticed a “temporary disruption” to some black tea lines, while an industry source suggested that some flavored lines had been delayed.

The news comes as reports emerge of a fresh round of assaults on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Yemen-based Houthi rebels. The latest attack was on the MV Star Iris, a Greek-owned, Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel transiting the Red Sea carrying corn from Brazil. The U.S. central command (Centcom) said February 13 the ship reports being seaworthy with minor damage and no injuries to the crew. The attack is the first one after a six-day lull, raising fears of further disruption to goods more vital than tea.

Still, a shortage could have far-reaching consequences. “The British never seem to do anything until they’ve had a cup of tea," Lauren Bacall once said in the movie North West Frontier (1959). "By which time it’s too late.” In any case, the U.K. is the world’s fifth largest tea importer and gets over half of its tea from Kenya and India, meaning the country is heavily reliant on Red Sea trading routes for this product.

The Red Sea crisis also created shipping backups at several major European ports, leading to delays in cargo delivery. Delivery times in December 2023 and January 2024 increased from 1.5 days on average at the Port of Antwerp to over three days. The Port of Hamburg saw its delivery times increase from an average of two days to almost six in January. Meanwhile, the Port of Rotterdam's average delivery times increased to almost three days in January while that number exceeded three days at the Port of Algeciras.